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Combo Explanations
Combos in the Competitive Meta Mind Over Matter / Temple Bell Combo Explanation Mind Over Matter allows you to discard cards from your hand to untap an artifact, enchantment, or land. This combos with Temple Bell to allow you to activate its ability infinitely. Each card you draw with Temple Bell can be discarded to untap Temple Bell. When a player has no cards in their library and is forced to draw a card, they lose the game instead. This is slightly different from a mill strategy such as Helm of Obedience / Rest in Peace because your opponents die instantly, rather than dying in their own draw step. This effect also kills all opponents simultaneously, which reduces the potential for people to respond after you have begun the combo. Be Careful As the trigger is mandatory and it causes you to draw cards from your own deck, you need to be careful that you do not inadvertently lose the game by drawing a card when your library is empty. Ways to prevent this include running Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, or Blightsteel Colossus in your deck. Kozilek and Ulamog get reshuffled into your library if you discard them, and Blighsteel Colossus never actually hits your graveyard as its ability is a replacement effect. Blightsteel Colossus is the most resilient out of the three as Kozilek and Ulamog can be exiled from your graveyard in response to their triggered abilities. Running any of these three allows you to discard the same card to activate Mind Over Matter repeatedly. If you only have one card in hand when you start to activate Mind Over Matter, you become susceptible to spot removal targeting either of the two combo pieces. If you have multiple cards in hand when you begin your combo, you can respond to (non-Krosan Grip) spot removal by discarding another card to activate Mind Over Matter and continue the combo. The last downside of this combo is it allows your opponents to potentially draw into responses. Activate with caution if you are playing decks with a good removal suite, or wait until your opponents are tapped out. As Mind Over Matter requires a significant blue mana base, it is best protected by combo-enabling low or no cost counterspells such as Pact of Negation or Force of Will. Disrupting the Combo As previously mentioned, disrupting this combo is much easier when the person activating it has fewer cards in hand. To utilize (non-Krosan Grip) spot removal to disrupt this combo, you need one response per card in the comboing player's hand (eg. 2 cards in hand necessitates 2 responses). One of these responses could also be a Stifle/Trickbind or bounce effect targeting either combo piece rather than simply hard removal. Combo Pieces and Other Synergies Temple Bell can be a fairly underwhelming card when used outside of this combo. There is a significant synergy with Consecrated Sphinx and Notion Thief, as well as Nekusar, the Mindrazer. Mind Over Matter synergizes with every artifact, enchantment, or land with a tap ability that does not require the permanent to be sacrificed as part of its cost. Using Mind Over Matter to untap mana rocks can provide the ability to generate large amounts of mana. "Firemind's Foresight" (Reiterate / Reset) Side Note: Firemind's Foresight, while not part of the actual combo does conveniently search for all of the necessary pieces, which is why our playgroup has taken to calling this the "Firemind's Foresight" Combo. Card Choices The main limitation of this combo is that Reset can only be cast on an opponent's turn. This obviously means that you need an Instant-speed way to kill all of your opponents. Luckily for us, Firemind's Foresight specifically searches for Instants with converted mana cost 3, 2 and 1. The Combo: Reiterate, Reset, High Tide* *High Tide is not necessary if you have enough lands in play, however it definitely helps threaten the combo much earlier in the game Win Conditions: Having win conditions that are fetchable with Firemind's Foresight is highly recommended. In the event that you naturally draw into one of the three combo pieces, you can search for a win condition with the corresponding CMC. 3-Mana: Blue Sun's Zenith, Stroke of Genius 2-Mana: Comet Storm, Brain Freeze* *Brain Freeze only wins if none of your opponents have the Eldrazi Titans (or Blightsteel Colossus) in their decks 1-Mana: Lightning Bolt (Or any 1-Mana spell that deals damage, eg. Burst Lightning, Shock, etc.) **This is not an exhaustive list, just some of the standout options Combo Explanation With enough land-based mana in play, Reiterate (with buyback) targetting Reset allows you to produce an infinite amount of mana. This mana can then be used in a multitude of ways to end the game. Step 1: Cast Reset (on an opponent's turn, only after their upkeep) Step 2: Cast Reiterate, paying the buyback cost, targetting Reset (Assuming Reiterate resolves, there will be 2 copies of Reset on the stack, and the Reiterate will be in your hand) Step 3: Allow the first copy of Reset to resolve, untapping all of your lands Step 4: Before the second copy of Reset resolves, re-tap all of your lands and cast Reiterate, paying the buyback cost, targetting Reset again Steps 5 - ∞: Repeat Steps 3 and 4 (Adding an infinite amount of mana to your mana pool) Step ∞+1: Win the game (You now have access to infinite mana (and the ability to copy a spell infinite times) so pick a spell and GO NUTS!) Note: For the purposes of comboing off Turnabout can be used in the place of Reset, however it is 4 CMC, so some lists may opt to not run it for the sake of efficiency Disrupting the Combo The main concern when you're thinking about comboing off is counterspells, Reiterate being the key piece to counter. City of Solitude is another big hoser for this, as Reset requires it to be your opponent's turn. Various hatebears (such as Eidolon of Rhetoric) can be problematic, so keep your eyes open and deal with them as necessary. Finally, Praetor's Grasp effects are also particularly effective against this, as without Reiterate specifically the combo doesn't work. Combo Pieces and Other Synergies Firemind's Foresight, when not being used to find the combo, is a toolbox all-star. Putting a couple silver bullets in your deck at the correct mana costs can be extremely relevant. Reiterate can be used to copy any other spell in your deck (or an opponent's) if you have extra mana to throw around Reset can be used in a pinch to untap your lands for a timely response Monolith / Power Artifact Combo Explanation Grim Monolith's appeal generally comes from the fact that it accelerates the user by 1 turn on their mana curve. It costs 2 and taps for 3, netting the user 1 additional mana on the turn that it is played. When played with Power Artifact, though, we are left with a combo that provides an infinite amount of colourless mana at instant speed. Basalt Monolith provides a similar effect, but with a casting cost of 3 colourless mana, it does not provide this acceleration quite as effectively. . . . . . Power Artifact reduces the activation cost of the artifact it enchants by 2 colourless mana. As Grim Monolith's untap ability naturally costs 4 colourless mana, Power Artifact brings the cost of this ability down to 2 colourless mana. Grim Monolith taps to produce 3 mana, 2 of which can be used to untap itself and repeat the process indefinitely. The same can be done with Basalt Monolith, as its activated ability costs 3 colourless mana, which is then reduced to 1 with Power Artifact. . . . . Be Careful To take full advantage of this combo, it generally pays to leave a few mana open to respond to disruptive effects such as spot removal. As this combo requires you to pass priority in order to resolve each untap activation, there is a small window for people to remove either combo piece, or Stifle the untap activation. Leaving an additional 2 colourless mana open allows you to respond to their spot removal to continue the combo unmolested. Disrupting the Combo As previously stated, there is a brief window that allows you to respond mid-combo to remove either piece before the combo player receives infinite mana. Krosan Grip is the premier removal spell for disrupting this combo as it does not allow the combo player to use any open mana to respond with another activation. Hoser cards such as Stony Silence prevent either of Grim Monolith's abilities from being activated, preventing the combo entirely. Combo Pieces and Other Synergies Grim Monolith is a top-tier mana rock to begin with, so if you abide by the rule of only playing combos where the constituent pieces are useful on your own, this combo may be for you. Basalt Monolith is a solid mana rock as well, although it is not as effective at producing explosive early game plays. Both Basalt and Grim Monolith really shine in an environment where you are able to untap them using effects other than the ones printed on the cards themselves. Voltaic Key, Tezzeret the Seeker, Unwinding Clock, Prophet of Kruphix, and Kiora's Follower all have effects that allow you to benefit from the big mana these rocks provide while mitigating or eliminating the downside of not untapping during your untap step. One of the most appealing things about Power Artifact and Grim Monolith is the ability to tutor for either piece of the combo with Muddle the Mixture. Muddle the Mixture can be tutored by Personal Tutor, Mystical Tutor, or Merchant Scroll, providing a common chain of tutor effects that increases consistency.